The annual Madison Lane and Rugby Road Charitable Trust Visual Arts Prize is intended to expand students’ opportunities for creative expression and to showcase significant accomplishments in the Arts. A $2,500 award is presented through The Jefferson Trust in partnership with UVA Arts to one undergraduate or graduate student each spring. A student’s submitted work must be created while he or she is enrolled at UVA, and eligible medias include: drawing, painting, watercolor, film/video, photography or sculpture.
The 2018 Madison Lane and Rugby Road Charitable Trust Visual Arts Prize was awarded to Grace Patrice Anyetei-Anum for her photograph entitled “Re-Presenting the African Woman.” This photograph is part of her thesis exhibition entitled “Re-Presenting the African Woman”, where she is hoping to use her photographs as a way of enlightening her fellow Americans about the diversity that exists on the African Continent. There are 54 different countries with over 1,500 languages spoken, but for many years Africa has been mistaken for a country. Anyetei-Anum photographed women from different countries in Africa she met at UVA to achieve her goal, with clothing serving as a way to make clear distinctions among the cultures and between being African and being African-American. Anyetei-Anum said, “Although we are all black, differences do exist in our various cultures.”